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Biography
essay-like|date=April 2012Other uses A deus ex machina (IPAc-en|icon|'|d|e?|.|?|s|_|?|k|s|_|'|m|??|k|i?|n|? or IPAc-en|'|d|i?|?|s|_|?|k|s|_|'|m|æ|k|?|n|?respell|DAY|?srespell|eksrespell|MAH|kee-n?; Random House Dictionary Latin language|Latin : "god out of the machine"; plural: dei ex machina ) is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object.
Linguistic considerations
The Latin phrase deus ex machina comes to English usage from Horace 's Ars Poetica , where he instructs poets that they must never resort to a god from the machine to solve their plots. He refers to the conventions of ancient Greece|Greek tragedy, where a crane ( mechane|mekhane ) was used to lower actors playing gods onto the stage. The machine referred to in the phrase could be either the crane employed in the task, a calque from the Greek language|Greek "god from the machine" (lang|grc|?p? µ??a??? ?e??, apò mekhan?s theós ), or the riser that brought a god up from a trap door. The idea is that the device of said god is entirely artificial or conceived by man.
Ancient uses
The Greek Tragedy|tragedian Euripides is often criticized for his frequent use of the deus ex machina . More than half of Euripides's extant tragedies employ a deus ex machina in their resolution and some critics go so far as to claim that Euripides invented the deus ex machina , although Aeschylus employed a similar device in his Eumenides .Rehm (1992, 72) and Walton (1984, 51). In Euripides' play Alcestis (play)|Alcestis , the eponymous heroine agrees to give up her own life in order to spare the life of her husband, Admetus. At the end Heracles shows up and seizes Alcestis from Thanatos|Death , restoring her to life and to Admetus. A more frequently cited example is Euripides' Medea (play)|Medea in which the deus ex machina , a dragon-drawn chariot sent by the Sun-God, is used to convey his granddaughter Medea , who has just committed murder and infanticide , away from her husband Jason to the safety and civilization of Athens. In Aristophanes' play Thesmophoriazusae the playwright parodies Euripides' frequent use of the crane by making Euripides himself a character in the play and bringing him on stage by way of the mekhane .
Aristotle criticized the device in his Poetics (Aristotle)|Poetics , where he argued that the resolution of a plot must arise internally, following from previous action of the play:Janko (1987, 20) quote|In the characters too, exactly as in the structure of the incidents, the poet ought always to seek what is either necessary or probable, so that it is either necessary or probable that a person of such-and-such a sort say or do things of the same sort, and it is either necessary or probable that this incident happen after that one. It is obvious that the solutions of plots too should come about as a result of the plot itself, and not from a contrivance, as in the Medea and in the passage about sailing home in the Iliad . A contrivance must be used for matters outside the drama—either previous events which are beyond human knowledge, or later ones that need to be foretold or announced. For we grant that the gods can see everything. There should be nothing improbable in the incidents; otherwise, it should be outside the tragedy, e.g., that in Sophocles ' Oedipus the King|Oedipus .|Aristotle| Poetics (Aristotle)| Poetics (1454a33-1454b9) Aristotle praised Euripides, however, for generally ending his plays with bad fortune, which he viewed as correct in tragedy, and somewhat excused the intervention of a deity by suggesting that "astonishment" should be sought in tragic drama: Poetics (Aristotle)|Poetics 11.5 Penguin, (1996, 45). quote|Irrationalities should be referred to what people say: that is one solution, and also sometimes that it is not irrational, since it is probable that improbable things will happen.
Modern uses
Joe Orton 's stage play, regarded as a farce or "black comedy", What the Butler Saw (play)|What the Butler Saw (1969) employs a deus ex machina ending when a policeman shows up to save the day." http://anglistika.webnode.cz/products/the-twentieth-century-british-drama1/ The Twentieth Century British Drama" Anglistika.
Literature
During the politically turbulent 17th and 18th Centuries, the deus ex machina was sometimes used to make a controversial thesis more palatable to the powers of the day. For example, in the final scene of Molière|Molière's play Tartuffe , the heroes are saved from a terrible fate by an agent of the compassionate, all-seeing Louis XIV|king -- the same king that held Molière's career and livelihood in his hands. http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/dfs_18/dfs_18_00023.html "Tartuff: Novel Guide". 2003. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
The novelist Andrew Foster Altschul satirized reality television in a 2011 novel titled Deus Ex Machina .
The classic novel Lord of the Flies uses a deus ex machina in its conclusion when the savage children are rescued by a passing navy officer. The author William Golding uses this technique to convey to the audience the terrible fate which would have afflicted the children (in particular Ralph) if the officer had not arrived at that moment.Bloom, Harold. http://books.google.com/books? id=j1ZJcFqQ7V8C& pg=PA67& lpg=PA67& dq=Lord+of+the+Flies,+deus+ex+machina& source=bl& ots=cxhYykzzWa& sig=m4jb5mUEAeeMTZ3j6Nq9vGHBvq0& hl=en& ei=ihqxTqmEPIXf0QG-w7ytAQ& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=6& ved=0CEkQ6AEwBTgK#v=onepage& q=Lord%20of%20the%20Flies%2C%20deus%20ex%20machina& f=false ''William Golding's Lord of the flies . Page 67. Google Books . Retrieved November 2, 2011.
The plot of the book and various film adaptations of War of the Worlds (2005 film)|War of the Worlds is succinctly resolved with terrestrial microorganisms that kill the otherwise unconquerable invaders.Underwood, John. http://bestforfilm.com/film-blog/top-10-deus-ex-machina-moments/ "Top 10 Deus Ex Machina moments". Best for Film. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
Comic book writer Matt Fraction was criticized for employing Franklin Richards ' massive but ill defined powers as a deus ex machina device in the 2011 book Fear Itself (comics)|Fear Itself #5.Evans, Alex. http://weeklycomicbookreview.com/2011/08/12/fear-itself-5-review/ "Fear Itself #5 – Review". Weekly Comic Book Review . August 12, 2011
Writer Christopher Hitchens observed that author J.K. Rowling often employs deus ex machina in the Harry Potter series. Hitchens argues that the tactic "has a deplorable effect on both the plot and the dialogue" in that it creates "The need for Rowling to play catch-up with her many convolutions".cite web|last=Hitchens|first=Christopher|title="Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Books Reviews|url= http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/books/review/Hitchens-t.html? pagewanted=2& _r=1|publisher=New York Times|accessdate=15 February 2012
Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel, Lolita , utilizes deus ex machina to drive its plot forward: In Chapter 21 of the novel, Charlotte Haze, Humbert Humbert's recent wife and the mother of Dolores "Lolita" Haze, is killed by a moving car in the street. Humbert, who plotted her death earlier in the novel but failed to do so, is relieved to find her killed.
Film
Sometimes, the unlikeliness of the deus ex machina plot device is employed deliberately. For example, a scene in The Life of Brian involves Brian, who lives in Judea in 33AD, being "rescued" from a high fall by a passing space ship.James Berardinelli, James. http://www.reelviews.net/movies/l/life_brian.html "Review: Life of Brian". Reelviews Movie Reviews. 2003
In the 1995 film Mighty Aphrodite two unresolved plot points are resolved when a disabled helicopter drops from the sky and introduces the character Linda to her husband (providing her with true love) who will then believe he fathered Lenny's child (covering up her past). Because the film is presented as a Greek play, complete with a amphitheater and a mask-wearing chorus, this is an intentional allusion and employment of a deus ex machina .
Likewise, a deus ex machina was used as a pivotal plot device in the film Adaptation (film)|Adaptation . When the main character seeks screen writing advice from a veteran of the film industry, he advises, "Find an ending, but don't cheat, and don't you dare bring in a deus ex machina ." A deus ex machina is later employed in the film in the form of an alligator attack that saves the main character's life. http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/LX/DeusExMachina.html "Deus ex machina" Hellenica. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
In the 2001 film Donnie Darko , at the end of the film, when Donnie Darko yells out deus ex machina, he says, "our lord and savior."
In the 2003 film The Matrix Revolutions , the final machine Neo faces out of the Matrix is called "Deus Ex Machina". This is never mentioned in the film but is shown in the subtitles. Deus Ex Machina is seen as the source of the Matrix and when translated for the film, it is known as "god of the machines".
In the 2004 film Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story , at the film's climax, a chest is brought in bearing the phrase "Deus Ex Machina", following a plot twist of the like.
Animation
In the CGI animated Christmas television special , Olive, the Other Reindeer , written by Steve Young (writer)|Steve Young , when Olive is locked in the back of the mail carrier's truck, she finds a package addressed to her from "Deus Ex Machina." The package is a metal file she uses to escape.
In the The Simpsons|Simpsons episode '' Thank God, It's Doomsday , after Homer Entering heaven alive|ascends to Heaven and realizes the rest of his family is still enduring the apocalypse , he pleads with God to undo it. Eventually, after Homer trashes much of Heaven, God agrees to put off the apocalypse and cries, "Deus ex machina!", returning everything to normal.
Disney animated films have traditionally resolved devastating problems using a deus ex machina, such as an inexplicable survival of bodily trauma (" The Jungle Book (1967 film)|The Jungle Book "). A recent example of this is found in the 2010 animated film " Tangled ".Clarify|date=May 2012 In the anime " Mirai Nikki ," there is a main character named Deus ex Machina, who is a god that controls time and space, and rules the world.
The animated series Totally Spies! often employs the use of deus ex machina to save the spies from various deathtraps and villains via certain gadgets. The use of deus ex machina in the series could also be attributed to the spy genre.
Video games
The Deus Ex series video games' titles refer to the main character who, controlled by the player, is the miraculous solution. http://www.rpgfan.com/archive/1998/06.html News Archives - June 1998 RPG Fan. Retrieved November 2, 2011. The Deus Ex series does not have a deus ex machina itself, however it is a reference to the futuristic setting of the game, where human beings undergo physical "augmentation" through nanotechnology, becoming god-like while slightly machine (or near-complete machines).
In the Machinima series, "Deus Ex Machina", by Jon Graham , the main character has a special suit of armor that makes him a sort of vigilante in a crime ridden city.
Criticism
A deus ex machina is generally undesirable in writing and often implies a lack of creativity on the part of the author. The reasons for this are that it does not pay due regard to the story's internal logic (although it is sometimes deliberately used to do this) and is often so unlikely that it challenges suspension of disbelief , allowing the author to conclude the story with an unlikely, though perhaps more palatable, ending.cite web |url= http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_D.html |title=Literary Terms and Definitions: D |author= Dr. L. Kip Wheeler |accessdate=2008-07-26 Following Aristotle, Renaissance critics continued to view the deus ex machina as an inept plot device, although it continued to be employed by Renaissance dramatists; Shakespeare used the device in As You Like It , Pericles, Prince of Tyre , Cymbeline and '' The Winter's Tale .Rehm, (1992, 70).
Towards the end of the 19th century, Friedrich Nietzsche criticized Euripides for making tragedy an optimistic genre via use of the device and was highly skeptical of the "Greek cheerfulness", prompting what he viewed as the plays' "blissful delight in life."Nietzsche (1993, 85). The deus ex machina, as Nietzsche saw it, was symptomatic of Socrates|Socratic culture that valued knowledge over Apollonian and Dionysian|Dionysiac music and ultimately caused the death of tragedy:Nietzsche (1993, 84& ndash;86). quote|But the new non-Dionysiac spirit is most clearly apparent in the endings of the new dramas. At the end of the old tragedies there was a sense of metaphysical conciliation without which it is impossible to imagine our taking delight in tragedy; perhaps the conciliatory tones from another world echo most purely in Oedipus at Colonus . Now, once tragedy had lost the genius of music, tragedy in the strictest sense was dead: for where was that metaphysical consolation now to be found? Hence an earthly resolution for tragic dissonance was sought; the hero, having been adequately tormented by fate, won his well-earned reward in a stately marriage and tokens of divine honour. The hero had become a gladiator, granted freedom once he had been satisfactorily flayed and scarred. Metaphysical consolation had been ousted by the deus ex machina .|Friedrich NietzscheNietzsche argues that the deus ex machina creates a false sense of consolation that ought not to be sought in phenomena and this denigration of the plot device has prevailed in critical opinion.Nietzsche (2003, 80). Some 20th-century revisionist criticism suggests that the deus ex machina cannot be viewed in these simplified terms and argues rather that the device allows mortals to "probe" their relationship with the divine.Rehm (1992, 71). Rush Rehm in particular cites examples of Greek tragedy in which the deus ex machina serves to complicate the lives and attitudes of characters confronted by the deity whilst simultaneously bringing the drama home to its audience.
Notes
Reflist|2
References
refbegin
Bushnell, Rebecca ed. 2005. A Companion to Tragedy . Malden, MA and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 1-4051-0735-9.
Heath, Malcolm, trans. 1996. Poetics. By Aristotle . Penguin: London. ISBN 978-0-14-044636-4.
Janko, Richard, trans. 1987. Poetics with Tractatus Coislinianus, Reconstruction of Poetics II and the Fragments of the On Poets. By Aristotle . Cambridge: Hackett. ISBN 0-87220-033-7.
Mastronarde, Donald, 1990. Actors on High: The Skene roof, the Crane and the Gods in Attic Drama . Classical Antiquity, Vol 9, October 1990, pp 247–294. University of California.
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